THE JOURNAL OF A TOUR INTO THE TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS; MADE IN THE SPRING OF THE YEAR 1803. WITH A GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF OHIO....
Harris, Thaddeus M.:
Boston: Printed by Manning & Loring, 1805. 271pp., plus folding engraved view, engraved plan, and three folding engraved maps. Errata slip. Early twentieth century three quarter green morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt, raised bands. Minor edgewear, spine leather and corners sunned to brown. Scattered foxing, light tanning (more pronounced on the maps). Very good. Untrimmed. First edition of one of the earliest separate historical accounts of Ohio, with Rufus Putnam's map: the first large folding map of the state of Ohio. One of the other maps shows the headwaters of the Ohio, and another shows plats of land that had been appropriated for military service (also featuring the Moravian Indian towns of Shoenbrun, Gnadenhutten, and Salem). This latter map is also attributed to Rufus Putnam, the Surveyor General and the dedicatee of Harris's work. Also included is a plan of the town of Marietta and a birds-eye view of the ancient Indian works on the Muskingum. Harris's journey was undertaken by the author, on doctor's orders, as a cure for "wasting sickness." The cure seems to have worked and the author lived on until 1842, despite the fatalistic final lines of his introduction: "...to the hopes not of the present, but of the future life, I resign myself." The text is also notable for a particularly early discussion of the petroleum deposits near Pittsburgh. HOWES H233, "aa." SABIN 30515. CLARK II:37. STREETER SALE 831. THOMSON 510.
(Item ID: WRCAM38940C) $4,000.00